Samantha and I spent this past Saturday at a political training event in Antioch. I will leave the formal description at that, but I can say that we were honored to hear from a current US congressman, a candidate for congress, a state house caucus chair, a state senator, a party chairman and a candidate for governor. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday, especially when the lunch was catered barbecue and sides from the famous Loveless Cafe.
I really enjoy following the political process and have had the pleasure of being a minor participant in a few campaigns since 2002. The training sessions went over some of the fundamentals of running a campaign for office, whether aiming for US Senate all the way down to city dog catcher. Campaigns are a lot like businesses in the way they manage expenses (yard signs, other printed materials, staff) and revenue (donations). I was impressed by the new online tools for creating and managing voter lists and volunteers. If used correctly, I would not bet against any campaign team utilizing them.
In a case of mistaken identity, I went up to a young woman and greeted her as not having seen her in three and a half years. The problem was that we had never met -- her first name and hair style just happened to match the person from memory. Samantha helped me salvage that conversation by finding out that she was there because her husband was running for a state house seat over in Clarksville, and that we knew many of the same people from West Tennessee. It was her husband's first step into politics, but he comes from a family of notable Tennesseans. She was there to take notes and learn from other activists. I am really excited to see how that race turns out.
Regardless of your political leanings, I firmly believe that the people who work and volunteer for political campaigns represent what being a responsible citizen is all about. Volunteers give up weekends and evening hours to help advance a cause greater than themselves for no pay and little credit. They call their friends and neighbors, knock on doors, drive vans on election day and are ready to share a message to anyone who will listen. It is easy to be cynical about politics in general, but I find it a lot tougher to discount the efforts of passionate volunteers.
So, I now have a very thick training manual to flip through and a bit more practical knowledge. I take comfort knowing that about every six months there is race or referendum somewhere in Tennessee. Now if I could find just enough time to get and stay involved.